The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

Brokers have told Tribune Business that Bahamas Customs’ system for the electronic submission of import documents, while not without its challenges, has increased efficiency by up to 30 per cent.

David Humes, of Integral Logistics Brokers told Tribune Business that, said it had speeded up the turnaround process and increased his efficiency by 30 per cent.

“It does speed up the turnaround process,” he confirmed. “Once I send it in electronically and I get to Customs, give or take 10 minutes and I could pay for it. Some of us to do entries electronically already, it’s just a matter of being able to send it in.

“Doing it by hand takes long because you have to write it up by hand. I don’t write up by hand any more, but I had to convert over to this system where I send it in electronically. Based on what’s happening now I would say it has increased my efficiency about 30 per cent.”

Mr Humes added: “The challenges I have sometimes are being able to get on, and also downloading invoices, IT challenges.”

Wendall Lewis, head of Alliance Customs Brokers, said the electronic submission of import documents had worked well for his company, although this was not without its issues.

But another broker, who did not wish to be identified, told Tribune Business: “It’s very time consuming. Manual is faster. When I say manual I mean going back to the old days; even handwriting is faster.

“If I’m entering a tariff number and it’s computerised, when I put it in, the tariff number - the description - should come up. I have to enter the description and that’s time-consuming.

“I used it the first week, and when I found out that they were still submitting entries manually I went back to that because it’s much faster. This business is about the quick turnaround. You’re only allowed six free days on the dock, and anything after that, it starts charges.”

Ulric Armbrister, manager at T&A Enterprises, told Tribune Business: “I know certain stages have been phased in, but they are still having slight problems with that, so I guess everything is not on stream as it should be.

“I haven’t really gotten into it as yet. I can’t speak to how effective it is but persons I have spoken to have said that it is OK, it speeds up the wait time.”

Customs Comptroller Charles Turner could not be reached for comment, but he told Tribune Business previously that the Department planned to phase-out the manual submission of documents from importers and brokers by end-May.

Mr Turner said these initiatives were all part of Customs’ efforts to modernise its operations.